The use of hand-held chainsaws has become quite prevalent. They are used as tools of the trade by professionals such as, for example, loggers, tree trimmers and the like. Homeowners also use chainsaws for both routine and major yard projects. The use of a chainsaw brings with it the potential for severe injury. One of the main causes of injury is so-called chainsaw “kickback”, which is characterized as a saw portion of the chainsaw being thrown in upward and backward toward the operator. One examples of a situation that cause chainsaw kickback is a chain of the chainsaw striking a knot in wood being cut. Another example is an upper run of the chain (i.e., the chain above a chain bar of the chainsaw) engaging a branch or log while a lower run of the chain is cutting a piece of wood. Regardless of the specific situation that causes kickback, the chainsaw kicks-back and, if the operator is unprepared, the momentum may carry the chain saw back far enough, allowing the upper run of the chain to strike the operator in the chest or head thereby causing severe injury.
To overcome this problem, various chain saw guards have been proposed to minimize this problem. While satisfactory, perhaps, these conventional chainsaw guards generally have been found to have certain drawbacks. For example, some are rather complicated in construction and cumbersome to use. Others do not allow for ready attachment to a variety of different types of chain saws, nor afford easy assembly and disassembly. Still others do not allow for ready viewing of the chain, while at the same time affording protection to the operator from flying debris and the possibility of kickback. Still others do not at least partially conceal the saw chain during kickback.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a chain saw guard that overcomes drawbacks associated with conventional chainsaw guards in a useful, advantageous and novel manner.